Jivamukti Yoga

At first I was slightly concerned as to what I had gotten myself into with this class but I soon realized it was much more than chanting ohm shanti ohm. Maybe I should have done some more research into Jivamukti yoga which seems to be a science in itself. The offer not only yoga but meditation and sanskrit classes and try to instill a vegan, environmentally friendly life style into their students. And it's an international undertaking too - lots of classes are offered all over the world and there is actually a studio in Munich as I just discovered one of the instructors also taught the German national soccer team. And the founders or rather gurus (although the word somehow creeps me out), apparently live on a wildlife sanctuary in the catskills, in upstate New York, close to Woodstock. Interestingly enough I never knew where this was until we passed it on our road trip to Montreal recently... It's not too far from NY City actually.

In any case, this was the first time they distributed a chant book for people before class.

The class itself was much more challenging than I would have thought at first but in a good way. The teacher was excellent at instructing people in their postures and actually helping them advance in their practice. There was one lady in my class who'd actually brought her own instructor- private class within a class I guess...

 While we were chanting, the instructor played an instrument, no idea what it was called but this was quite different from some of the other classes I have taken in the city...
What I don't quite understand is the fact that she was talking about helping others through their suffering, but just by practising yoga I don't know how you are doing that. Most likely the idea is to change your attitude and start caring about others but I'm not sure many of the yoga students here do...
So maybe it's ok to just keep at the physical practice level... Having looked at their website in some more detail through an active vegan, green life style they are trying to give their students more than just the physical practice which I think it's a great approach, yet I wonder if it really reaches a lot of people in this city where everyone (including myself) produces massive amounts of garbage every day...